Chapter 10 / X

Journal Questions:

1. MISSING THINGS. What two everyday items come up missing in this chapter? Who notices them? What possible reasons could there be for them being missing? If they were to be used for some evil purpose, how could they be? (two items, one paragraph)


2. BRENT'S GUILTY REVELATION. What evidence is there that Miss Brent feels guilty for Beatrice Taylor's suicide? Describe the evidence and elaborate as to why it is reveals her sense of guilt. (one quote, one paragraph)


3. PREDICTING DISASTER. At this point in the story, according to the nursery rhyme, how will the next victim die? Using that line in the rhyme, take a guess as to who, what, when, where, and how it will go down. (one quote, one paragraph)


4. DISTILLATION OF PLOT.

Enjoy the link here.

Notice how they condensed the entire Napoleon Dynamite movie into 30 seconds. Wow! To do so, they had to isolate important scenes, lines of dialog, sound effects, music, and memorable visual moments.

Now, imagine if angryalien.com hired you as a cartoonist or a writer and wanted you to do something very similar for ATTWN. It would be called:

"And Then There Were None in 30 Seconds (and Re-Enacted by Bunnies)"

The entire novel would need to be told in 30 seconds. What would you include for chapter 10?

You may choose to either:

A. Draw a quick series of boxes to show what you'd include, like in a comic strip including dialog, visuals, music and sound. (3 to five cartoon boxes)

or

B. Write the visuals and dialog, music, and sound within a series of quick bullet points. (3 to five bullet points)

Think about the highlights, important and memorable moments that took place at this point in the story.

Have fun with this one, and don't worry if you're an artist or not. The grading on creative projects like this is very flexible.

Just try your best and be creative!

The more energy you put into it, the more fun you will have.

Chapter 9 / IX

Journal Questions:

1. STAYING INVESTED

One of the biggest challenges when reading an assigned book is staying invested in it. By invested, I mean caring about the story and being genuinely interested in what's happening to the characters.

Some people are already put off by having to read a book that they didn't choose, but go ahead and try to have an open mind about it. Then at some point they either get hooked and actually want to read the book, or they don't. If they don't it can make the remaining work very difficult.

Is it easier to be successful with a book you naturally like? Why? (one paragraph)

Can you realistically expect to like all the books you're being assigned to read? (short answer)

If you don't like the book and lose interest, what is the possible downside for you? (short answer)

Finally, what can you do to prevent that from happening? In other words, how can you get yourself back into the zone of actually being into the book? (one paragraph)


2. LOMBARD FESSES UP

Lombard has been keeping a secret from the others. What is that secret? (one paragraph)

Why do you think Lombard "comes clean" about the nature of the invitation he received to come to the island? What does he stand to gain or lose by disclosing this information? (one paragraph)


3. REVISE YOUR CERS

Yesterday you wrote a rough draft for CERS.  Re-read your draft and do some revising.  Specifically:

- Look at the sentence fluency.  Do you sentences flow easily?  Is there a variety of sentences, or do they all sound the same?  Does your writing feel awkward, robotic, or stilted?  Or do your ideas flow naturally.
- Look for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors
- Look for transition words or phrases that help the reader to move between ideas

Now make a quick revision, rewriting your CERS by upgrading the quality of your work.

Chapter 8 (VIII)

Journal Questions:

1. MACARTHUR AT THE BEACH. At the beach MacArthur has a very different perspective about the current situation than Vera does. How does he see their situation? Pick a line of dialogue that MacArthur speaks that captures his thoughts on what is going on. There is one particular line that is very chilling -- see if you can find it. You only need to pick one. (at least on paragraph)

Why do you think he feels this way? What in his past or in his life might motivate him to have this outlook? (at least one paragraph)


2. THEME DEFINITION. Copy down the definition for the literary term "Theme" from your red Language Arts textbook (The Language of Literature) on page R164.

"A theme is the message about life or human nature that is conveyed by a literary work.  A work may have more than one theme, and in manyh cases readers must infer the writer's message.  One way to infer a fictional worke's theme is to decide what general statement could be supported by experiences of the main character(s).  For example, a theme of "The Scholarship Jacket" is having to stand up for one's beliefs."
 


3. THEME BRAINSTORMING. Based on this definition, what do you see as at least four different, possible themes of our novel so far? Focus on the overall story so far.  Go back to the definition above and recheck if your four themes really can be considered to be "themes." (list of four)


A following examples of themes might help you to get started
           
             THEME death is a natural part of life           
             EVIDENCE “In the midst of life, we are in death.”

             THEME all men are capable of evil acts
             EVIDENCE “One of us in this very room is in fact the murderer.” 

              THEME a guilt conscience burdens the mind
              EVIDENCE “That's peace - real peace. To come to the end - not to have to go on... Yes, peace.”           

               THEME judgement and justice come to all
               EVIDENCE “I’m talking to you, young man. The day of judgment is very close at hand.”


4. CERS PARAGRAPH ON THEME
Choose the best theme of the four. Write a simple CERS paragraph using the following template and prompt.

PROMPT:
What is the central theme of the novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie?

TEMPLATE
CLAIM 
Make a simple Claim Statement as follows:

"The central theme of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None is __________________"

EVIDENCE
State a quote from the book that supports this Claim.  Include the page number as an in text citation such as:

"The following quote demonstrates this theme:  " ______________________________" (page number X).

REASONING
Explain why this quote demonstrates your Claim Statement by writing:

"The above quote proves that that the central them is __________________ because ______________________________."

SYNTHESIS
Connect the theme you chose to a similar theme from another book, movie or televisions show by writing something like:

"While the central theme of _________________________ is in And Then There Were None, this same theme also exists in _______________________________________ because they both have ____________________________ in common."


You may use the movie Clue if you like.

Chapter 7 Journal Topics

1. ATTWN - The Soundtrack. Sometimes it helps to listen to "mood music" while reading to help your imagination to really feel the tone of the novel. Listen to the following passage of music here.

Does this fit with the tone and mood of the novel as you see it, or does it feel different to you? How so?

Is there another song that you can think of that better captures the mood to you? If so, what is the title of the music and the composer/performer? Why does this song fit better for you? (one paragraph)


2. A Searching We Will Go. Why do Lombard, Armstrong, and Blore decide to search the house and the island? What do they hope to accomplish? What is their plan and what will they do if they succeed? (one paragraph)


3. Author's use of Imagery. Read the following passage from chapter 7:

"She turned her face to Vera. There was no self-reproach, no uneasiness in those eyes. They were hard and self-righteous. Emily Brent sat on the summit of Indian Island, encased in her own armour of virtue."

Expand on what Agatha Christie is telling us about Brent in this passage. Based upon this description, how would you describe Emily Brent's personality? What kind of person is she? (one paragraph)


4.  BONUS -- In Charlotte Doyle there was a particular word used to describe a pointed weapon. In the movie Clue there was another particular word used to describe a knife-like object. In this chapter of ATTWN there is yet another word to describe a knife. The three different words are all synonyms, variations on the same idea.

See if you can name the three different vocabulary words, in order. (3 word list)

CHAPTER VI (6)

Journal Questions:

1. MAKE OR BREAK RELATIONSHIPS. In a survival situation, what kinds of relationships a character forms with others may hold the key to whether they survive or die.

A. AN ALLIANCE. Name two characters who appear to have formed an alliance. Support your idea with evidence from the text. Speculate as to why have they appeared to have formed a bond. (one paragraph)

B. FRENEMIES. Name two characters who appear to not like each other very much. Support your idea with evidence from the text. Speculate as to why have they appeared to have a strained relationship. (one paragraph)

C. A LONER. Name one character who appears to be going it alone, neither attempting to form alliances nor making any enemies. Support your idea with evidence from the text. Speculate as to why have they appeared to have chosen to avoid forming relationships with others. (one paragraph)


2. ANIMAL METAPHORS. Agatha Christie uses the metaphor of the characters being like frightened animals in a cage. She specifically describes several characters as appearing or acting like particular animals, repeating the same metaphorical creature assigned to each character throughout the book.

Name one character who is described like an animal. Which character and which animal? Support your idea with evidence from the text. Why does she choose to assign this particular animal's attribute's to this particular character? How does it help tell the story?

You may need to got back to look into previous chapters. (one paragraph)

Chapter 5

1. EXPLORING MORTAL FEAR. Vera fears for her own life. What kinds of behaviors, emotions, or ways of coping do people express when they realize that they might die at any moment? How might it change people's personalities? Is it possible to face eminent death in a positive way? Would most people do so? Finally, if you knew you were in very real danger, how might you react? (two to three paragraphs)

2. WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN? When you come across a word or a reference that is unfamiliar, how do you handle it? Be honest. What are the benefits of using this strategy? What are the consequences of using this strategy? Can you use this strategy all the time, or only sometimes? Explain your reasoning. (one to two paragraphs)


3. ATTWN MASH UP. If you were to take the And Then There Were None story template and translate it into another setting with different characters, what would the story be like?

It could be another fictional world (like Harry Potter, Glee, or the X-Men), or maybe it could be something non-fiction (like your school, your track team, or American Idol. ) You decide.

Who would be the suspects? Where would they be isolated? How would the poem go (Ten Little Wizards? Ten little Gleeks?) How would the story be different or the same?

This should be a fun assignment, so be creative and let your imagination run wild!

Just don't offend anyone (especially your teachers and your friends).

(as long as you want, minimum one paragraph)

Chapter 4 (IV)

Journal Prompts:

1. Getting into their "head space." Notice how from time to time the author chooses to go into the internal world of her characters, sharing their thoughts, dreams, hallucinations, and feelings through employing third person omniscient point of view. Examine one particular incidence of this that happened in the last 4 chapters by...

a) ...naming the chapter the event occurred in and the name of the specific character (one number, one name)

b) ...explaining where they were physically in the reality of the story world at the time (one sentence)

c) ...explaining what was going on in the character's mind - where were they in their head? Who or what were they thinking about? (one paragraph, summarize with at least four sentences -- include details)

d) ...explaining why this is an effective tool for storytelling. Why does Agatha do this? What do we gain as readers? How does it improve the story? Why does she bother? (one paragraph, at least three good solid points)

2. Reactions and Accusations. Track how each character (that's EACH character) reacts to their individual accusations of murder on the gramophone. Who takes responsibility? Who makes excuses? Who blames others? Explain each character. (a bullet list of 9 characters with commentary)


3. So... Whodunnit so far? At this point you are probably already suspecting someone of being the killer. Who is your current pick? Give three intelligent, well thought out reasons why they are the most likely candidate at this time. (one paragraph, at least three supporting points)

Chapter 3

Journal Prompts:

1. Who Was Accused of What? List each character and the crime they are accused of from the voice on the gramophone. (short answers).


2. Central Object. The ceramic Indians will play a significant role in the story that follows. What important central objects or focal points have you seen before in other books, tv shows, or movies? For example, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the "wardrobe" is a very important object. Give your own example of a central object that helps drive the narrative from another story you've read or seen. Explain in detail, with examples of how that object works to shape and control that story. (1 paragraph)


3. The Call of Leadership. After the gramophone plays the record, which character or characters seem to step into leadership roles, attempting to take control of the situation, and how? Why do you think these people were the natural leaders? Explain and support your point with 3E SD. (about 1-3 paragraphs)


4. Play on Words. What does U. N. Owen really mean? (short answer)


5. Diabolic Machinations. What does the combination of the Ten Little Indians poem, the swan song record, the ceramic figurines, and the use of the name U.N. Owen tell you about the "dangerous and homicidal lunatic" who invited them to the island? Fully explain your ideas with well developed thoughts. (about 1-2 paragraphs)

CHAPTER II ASSIGNMENTS

Journal Prompts:

1. What is each character's attitude or opinion about being on the island as they settle in? Give evidence to support your point for each character. (a bullet list of 8)

2. How does the poem make you feel? What does it remind you of? What images, associations or visions does it conjure in your imagination? Read each line out loud. Write a prediction about how you think the author is going to utilize this poem as a narrative device. Elaborate and think deeply about this question, including details and your own thoughts. (one paragraph)

3. Engage your sensory imagination for sound and smell. Imagine what being on the island would sound like. What would you hear? Imagine what the island and the house would smell like. Describe these in your best words. Use a thesaurus if you can't think of any good adjectives. What would be the source of these sounds and smells? (one paragraph)

4. Draw a rough sketch or map of the layout of the island and the mansion -- of what you know so far. This is a sketch you can come back to revisit as your knowledge of the physical world of the story increases. (two sketches)

And Then There Were None 

by Agatha Christie

JOURNAL WRITING PROMPT

CHAPTER I - Due Monday 5/19/14

1) What information do you know about each character upon their arrival? 

What information provided is obvious, and what can be inferred?

 

2) Which character had “the list?” 

 What do you think was the point of the list?

3) Was each character invited to the island by the same person? 

 If not, who was invited by whom? 

What was the reason they were invited?